The Big Picture

In Season 2 of the CBS series ‘Fire Country,’ Bode faces intense challenges as a fire tornado threatens lives, forcing him to take on unexpected responsibilities.
Max Thieriot, who plays Bode, shares the difficulties of shooting intense scenes inside a crashed ambulance in the latest episode.
The heartbreaking death in the episode will have a lasting impact on the characters and storyline, creating ripple effects throughout the season.

[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Episode 5, “This Storm Will Pass,” of Season 2 of Fire Country.]

The stakes were raised to an all-time high in Season 2 of the CBS series Fire Country, as an extremely rare and very dangerous fire tornado put everyone in its path in danger. From the Leones and the Station 42 crew to the paramedics and the Three Rock inmates, no one escaped unscathed and tragically not all of them were able to make it out alive. And with something that life-altering sweeping through and so unexpectedly changing everything, it leaves Bode (Max Thieriot, who’s also the series co-creator and an executive producer) to take on a responsibility that he isn’t sure he’s ready for, but wants to prove he’s up to the task.

During this interview with Collider, Thieriot broke down the events of episode 205, “This Storm Will Pass,” and talked about the challenges of shooting in the crashed ambulance, playing someone as impulsive as Bode, that Bode should really work on himself before pursuing romance with Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila), how hard it is to shoot a death scene with a co-star, especially when it’s an actor you’re good friends with, and how that death will affect everyone moving forward.

Fire Country A young convict joins a firefighting program looking for redemption and a shortened prison sentence. He and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.Release Date October 7, 2022 Creator Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Max Thieriot Main Genre Drama Seasons 2

‘Fire Country’s Max Thieriot Is Up For the Challenge with the Big Stunt Sequences
Image via CBS

Collider: A lot happened in this episode, and it felt like things just kept getting thrown at everybody the whole time. Specifically for you, you started off this episode with the ambulance having crashed and been thrown on its side. What was it like to shoot all that stuff inside the ambulance? Were you rigged up for some of it? How did all that work?

MAX THIERIOT: Surprisingly, no. I had real handcuffs on because I didn’t like the fake ones because every time that I would really pull on them, they would come off. I really wanted to be able to wrench on the handcuffs and be stuck, and really feel trapped. I wanted to feel like I was stuck in this really uncomfortable position and I couldn’t get out. That was something that I weirdly wanted to go through, as an actor. After we were done with all the ambulance stuff, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Why did I do that?” Specifically, my wrists were asking me, “Why did I do that?,” because they definitely did not feel good. I basically looked like I’d been tied up somewhere. I had marks on my wrists for days. It was uncomfortable. We were in this ambulance that was on its side, and instead of being rigged up to the gurney, I was basically seat belted in and actually hanging sideways. I undid my own buckles and really went through all the motions for real.

In times like that, it’s that feeling of being so uncomfortable and claustrophobic in this tight space with cameras and everyone, that sometimes when you’re in those places, you’re fighting so hard to do these things, that it ends up creating these scenes that are really special. The camera operators had to get in these uncomfortable positions and find their shots. It basically looked like Twister in there, the way that the cameras were assembled. They were like, “Hold on, I’m gonna go over the top of you, and I’ve gotta put my leg over here.” It was wild. But sometimes when you do those things, it forces everyone outside of their comfort zone and makes everybody just push further and further. Ultimately, emotionally, it becomes this thing where you end up achieving things that you didn’t really know you could do, or really even know existed in the scene. It was ultimately fun. It was ultimately fulfilling, but at the time, it sucked.

Related ‘Fire Country’ Is Burning Up With Season 3 Renewal at CBS Season 2 of the hit series is currently airing.

Because you guys were all in that ambulance for a long time, it seemed quite complicated.

THIERIOT: Yeah, it was pretty wild. I love doing stuff like the window break. They designed some really cool shots with the camera moving in and revealing the inside of the cab, and then seeing me climb the thing and break the window. Obviously, the glass is candy sugar glass, so that no one loses an eye. It’s almost harder when it is that glass because I’ve gotta kick it as hard as I can without kicking it as hard as I can, and then end up in there on top of Diego. It’s challenging, but I love the challenge.

‘Fire Country’s Max Thieriot Believes Bode and Gabriela Need Self-Reflection Before Romance

In the episode before this one, Bode decided to declare his love for Gabriela, but then backtracked a bit when he blamed it on being out of it. Do you feel like he’s at a point where he needs to work on himself before he could be in a relationship with anyone, let alone Gabriela?

THIERIOT: For sure. His heart is constantly pulled to her, even though he knows he should not be acting a certain way. He’s such an impulsive guy. He just has this connection with her, where he’s unable to help himself. That’s part of his journey in this season, as well. He needs to get to a place where he can start to put himself first and work on his own things, before he tries to save everyone, or push a relationship with Gabriela. It’s that realization that maybe he’s not in a place, himself, that’s gonna allow him to really be the person that everybody wants him to be. He has a lot of self-work that he needs to do, and a lot of the latter part of this season is that journey for him. One of the big motivating things for him is obviously Genevieve and this conversation that he has with Cara, where she really hangs this responsibility on him and ultimately tells him that she trusts him. Someone’s word means a lot to Bode, and him giving his word means a lot. He’s really gonna take that responsibility on and ultimately learn how it changes his life by him trying to change somebody else’s.

Related How Accurate Is CBS’ ‘Fire Country’? The California Fire Department would like to have a word.

Some actors seem to love drama for their character because that’s fun to play, while other actors seem to root for their character to find some happiness. Would you like to see Bode get to a place where you could explore what a relationship with Gabriela would look like, or do you like the drama of keeping them apart? Where do you fall on that?

THIERIOT: Nobody ever wants the couple to be together, but they also do. It’s a weird thing. If Bode and Gabriela were to actually be together, which people want in one way, they would feel really unsatisfied that everything is good and okay. For the overall journey and arc of the characters, I feel like we need to explore what their lives are like before that. There are also only so many times you can actually bring them together and pull them apart.

Related Every ‘Fire Country’ Season 1 Episode, Ranked by IMDb “What if I don’t parole? What if I do, and I fall apart without fire camp?”

How hard is it to shoot a final scene for an actor, like the one that you had to shoot for Cara. She was unconscious, so she isn’t even able to be fully present in that moment. What was it like to experience that together?

THIERIOT: Those scenes are always hard because I end up putting myself as much in that situation and headspace as I possibly can. Regardless of who it is, things like that are always emotionally very draining on me, but even more so because it was Sabina [Gadecki]. She and I are actually really good friends in real life, so it was that much more devastating and emotional. We had these really great scenes where we got to say these things to each other, but then I ultimately had to live in that space of her being gone. Just the idea of her being gone, in general, really helped bring out that emotion and resonate with me, and that shows through the character. It’s hard. I love those scenes, but they’re exhausting and draining. It’s that feeling of having a really good cry and feeling like you just released like all these things that you’ve had locked up, but then that’s so physically exhausting afterwards and you need to lay down and go to sleep. That’s literally how it is.

Max Thieriot Says That Heartbreaking Death Will Continue to Have a Ripple Effect on ‘Fire Country’
Image via CBS

Will her death bring everyone together, or will there still be plenty of other issues going on with everybody?

THIERIOT: I think both, but most importantly, her death will continue to have a massive ripple effect throughout this season and the series, in general. It’s gonna continue to unfold and push all these characters a lot of different ways throughout the rest of the season. I’m really thankful for that part of it, in that you’ll see how much this resonates with everyone.

It was a really big episode for pretty much all the characters, which was nice to see.

THIERIOT: For sure. It was a really beautiful episode cinematically, but also emotionally throughout, with the journey that all these characters go on. We even get to see really beautiful scenes with Cole. We get to finally learn a little bit more about his backstory and discover some of that stuff. I’m really, really pleased with how this episode turned out, and I’m excited for everybody to see it.

Fire Country airs on Friday nights on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Paramount+